Lee quick trim die, fault?

[sbd3927]

Received my dies today (yet to get a press) and have been fiddling with them, polishing crimp faces etc.

Looking at the QT die, I think there's a fault with it. There is a gray plastic insert in the bottom that has a shoulder machined into it. The inner shoulder is substantially smaller than a casing and wont allow one to be pushed (by finger) into the die.
My guess is its supposed to be a plastic o-ring holder and is unfinished? Theres mention of o-ring on the lee site.
If its supposed to be a nylon bush squeeze fit, seems its excessively undersized for purpose.

Does anyone have one they can take a look at?
First diameter 12.22mm, inner diameter 11.22mm versus base of an unfired factory 308win round, 11.80mm

20141129_011427.jpg (67.77 KiB) Viewed 5105 times

[Chronos]

I'm not farm ilia with the lee quick trim dies however have you allowed for the shell holder in your measurements? The car does't enter the die completely as part of the case remains in the shell holder so the case can be extracted from the die

Chronos

[sbd3927]

A fired or even factory unfired wont enter the nylon bush at the mouth of the die past the shoulder of the case. Seems to me that .6mm interference is way excessive, but after posting my problem here it occurred to me that USA wasn't in bed yet.

I queried Lee with the above info and if there was a design change away from o-ring retainers... "The die needs to be installed into the press to get the brass through the nylon bushing. What you have is the current design."

I still have my doubts, I'll check the .6mm interference fit doesn't attempt to resize the cartridge or otherwise damage it, but so far it's confirmed by Lee themselves.

I did suggest that if it was shipping as intended, that they amend their online information or the included pamphlet to reflect the new design, I couldn't find any mention of it anywhere.

Without affirmation from them I wouldn't even be attempting to cycle a cartridge through the new nylon bush system. There's probably a relief behind the inner shoulder allowing it to flex outwards, but it's not detectable without some potentially destructive disassembly.

I'll hopefully be buying a press this week and will follow up here with observations on the QT Die

[Chronos]

Excellent service from them

Glad you have it sorted

Chronos

[sbd3927]

Yes. I was surprised at the quick turnaround on the answer. I noticed afterwards its the Thanksgiving season, Thur/Frid are holidays. So the response is good service indeed.

Overall I'm happy with the dies, although I've yet to use them.

It is acknowledged that Lee dies are produced to a price and benefit from some final touchups to machined finish. In my opintion, the unique designs of some dies such as the neck collet set outweigh any inconvenience of final finishing. In fact, I am probably happier there was something for me to tweak as far as improving the bearing surface on the collets, it was fairly simple to attain a noticeable improvement. I spun the collet and seat of the neck collet die set in the lathe (a drill would suffice) and touched them up with wet/dry sandpaper and cutting fluid, this removed some noticeable machining marks. Likewise the mandrel from the same die. The improvement in surface finish made a noticeable improvement to the compression of the collet under hand pressure. From perceptible judder to smooth compression.

Howerver, final sorting of the issue depends on brass moving through that nylon bush without being damaged or downsized. 0.6mm interference......

[stephencee]

I did suggest that if it was shipping as intended, that they amend their online information or the included pamphlet to reflect the new design, I couldn't find any mention of it anywhere.

They're never quick to update that kind of stuff

I had the same problem working out how to adjust my Anschutz trigger because the book and online both still showed pictures with an old trigger that didn't match mine.

Such a pain to, in the end, confirm that everything was perfectly fine. Just a matter of out of date info again.

[Lorgar]

1416D wasn't it Stephen?

My instruction book didn't have the correct info either.

[Chronos]

1416D wasn't it Stephen?

My instruction book didn't have the correct info either.

Unfortunately YouTube generally has better and more up to date instruction on such things.

Chronos

[sbd3927]

So I picked up a Lee press kit today, would have preferred breech version with off press priming but they weren't in stock.

The good news is empty cases go into the nylon bush easily enough, and aren't downsized in the process. Will probably take years before it wears enough to no longer stop them rotating.

The pain in the neck is the gunshop had opened and taped up the box, the staples were missing.. and so is the primer pocket cleaner, chamfer tool and case trimmer... Outgoing annoyed phone call tomorrow, its over an hours drive from here, so they can post parts or I'll return the lot and buy it online instead. It will be a while before I need to size cases and I guess I can improvise something for primer pockets ( maybe a drill bit, grind diameter and twist by hand) But damned if I'll drive all over Melbourne because some fool swiped something from a box. Grrrr.

[Lorgar]

Unfortunately YouTube generally has better and more up to date instruction on such things.

I took the man approach and just had a crack at it without the correct info

[COLLECTOR 1]

Try Western Firearms in Sydney........ 02 9570 4794.

I had heaps of problems with the QT...and they sorted it out real quick.

Collector 1

[Seconds]

I've had a few dealings with the guys there.

They've always been helpful.